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Address delivered before the North Carolina State Agricultural Society: at the second annual Fair of the Society, Thursday, October 19th, 1854

34
of the Union. Rice is a great staple in some of our South-eastern
counties—and there are thousands of acres of our
Eastern swamps, now awaiting the hand of industry to con-vert
them from stagnant wastes, into waving rice fields. Rye
and oats, and peas and beans find in North Carolina a soil
and climate particularly adapted to their growth. There
is not a finer country in the same latitude for the production
of hay, and consequently for the rearing of fine stock, than
the vast Peidmont region, extending from Raleigh west to
the Blue Ridge. The census returns show that flax is
produced in North Carolina, to an extent I had not suppos-ed—
whilst our fertile mountain slopes, under a temperate
sky, offer to the sheep raiser and wool-producer advantages
no where exceeded in the world. The pea-nut crop, trivial
as it may appear to some, is worth hundreds of thousands
of dollars; showing that the barren wastes of sand in our
South-eastern counties, contain vast resources of wealth,
awaiting only the hand of labor for their development. The
resources of our forests are almost incalculable—and they
are peculiar to North Carolina. The naval stores, and ship
timber, and sawed lumber of our pine forests, the staves of
our oak forests, and the shingles of our cypress and juniper
swamps, give employment to tens of thousands of laborers
—and their fertile soil is only awaiting the hand of the far-mer,
to be converted into luxuriant fields, as soon as the
huge forest growth is removed. Our mineral resources far
exceed those of any other State of the Union, except Cali-fornia.
Our gold mines are not worked by roving adventu-rers
in search of alluvial dust—but by invested capital, pay-ing
good wages to the laborer, and realizing good dividends
to the capitalist.
Our coal mines have passed through the ordeal of scientific
scrutiny—their wealth is incalculable, and they only await
the completion of those improvements necessary for their
transit to market, to pour their rich treasures into the_great
store-house of North Carolina wealth. Our copper mines

34
of the Union. Rice is a great staple in some of our South-eastern
counties—and there are thousands of acres of our
Eastern swamps, now awaiting the hand of industry to con-vert
them from stagnant wastes, into waving rice fields. Rye
and oats, and peas and beans find in North Carolina a soil
and climate particularly adapted to their growth. There
is not a finer country in the same latitude for the production
of hay, and consequently for the rearing of fine stock, than
the vast Peidmont region, extending from Raleigh west to
the Blue Ridge. The census returns show that flax is
produced in North Carolina, to an extent I had not suppos-ed—
whilst our fertile mountain slopes, under a temperate
sky, offer to the sheep raiser and wool-producer advantages
no where exceeded in the world. The pea-nut crop, trivial
as it may appear to some, is worth hundreds of thousands
of dollars; showing that the barren wastes of sand in our
South-eastern counties, contain vast resources of wealth,
awaiting only the hand of labor for their development. The
resources of our forests are almost incalculable—and they
are peculiar to North Carolina. The naval stores, and ship
timber, and sawed lumber of our pine forests, the staves of
our oak forests, and the shingles of our cypress and juniper
swamps, give employment to tens of thousands of laborers
—and their fertile soil is only awaiting the hand of the far-mer,
to be converted into luxuriant fields, as soon as the
huge forest growth is removed. Our mineral resources far
exceed those of any other State of the Union, except Cali-fornia.
Our gold mines are not worked by roving adventu-rers
in search of alluvial dust—but by invested capital, pay-ing
good wages to the laborer, and realizing good dividends
to the capitalist.
Our coal mines have passed through the ordeal of scientific
scrutiny—their wealth is incalculable, and they only await
the completion of those improvements necessary for their
transit to market, to pour their rich treasures into the_great
store-house of North Carolina wealth. Our copper mines